Property taxes: Controversy erupts over sealing of shops by Cantonment board

Traders say property is owned by Pakistan Railway and it should be these levies

PESHAWAR: Shopkeepers have voiced their dismay over sealing of their shops by the cantonment board administration.

They were issued notices to pay property tax which the shopkeepers say does not come under any legal jurisdiction. They say their shops are situated on the property of Pakistan Railways.

The Cantonment Board Administration sealed 135 shops situated at the Railway Lines and on the premises of Shoba Pul.

While speaking to The Express Tribune, Peshawar Traders’ Union Central President Mujeebur Rehman said these shops are on railway property and were given out on rent in the 1990s.

“The shopkeepers were paying regular rents to the railway authorities, but it is not their responsibility to pay property taxes as well,” he claimed.

“The cantonment board should ask Pakistan Railways to pay property tax rather than harassing shopkeepers through various tactics.”



He condemned the “illegal” shutting down of shops, saying the exercise has cost traders millions. He asked the government to open the shops immediately. “Railway authorities and the Cantonment board must find a solution to this issue,” he said. “It is not the traders who should be suffering in this administrative fiasco,” Rehman stressed.

Another shopkeeper in the area told The Express Tribune the Cantonment board issued him notices to pay property taxes of millions of rupees.

“They are issuing notices to me when I am not even the owner of this shop,” he said. “We are obliged to pay income tax and not property tax,” he highlighted.

Another shopkeeper said these shops were given on rent by Awami National Party’s Ghulam Ahmad Bilour to traders in the 1990s when he was the federal minister for railways.

When contacted by The Express Tribune, Cantonment Board Peshawar Spokesperson Asad Khan said the shops were the property of Pakistan Railways, but traders should have paid property taxes to the authority.

“The Cantonment board’s recovery teams have started operations across the city against tax evaders and will seal all those business centres that are not paying property tax,” he warned.

There was also an altercation during the sealing of these shops as Cantonment board officials and locals exchanged harsh words. The police was called in to control the situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2016.